Wednesday, October 13, 2010

It's been on my list for quite a long time. A wagon. A b3 wagon, to be exact.

The first b3 wagon I ever drove was while I was visiting my brother in Cortona, Italy. A local rally driver decided to give me a chance at making a fool of myself on a Tuscan road in his daily beater. Imagine, a wagon with a manual transmission! What fun! This couldn't ever be available in the states, right? We don't like this kind of fun in America! I still remember his mild impression that this dumb kid in the right hand drive passat wagon was actually not screwing things up. How proud was I!

Fast forward a few years later, around 2003 or 2004, where flashes of Rene's dumped b3 on type a's, various variants from across the pond, and a whole slew of pnw wagons were fleshing themselves out. Riding with mike to h20 a few years ago in his aired out wagon (back when that was novel, ha) sealed it, I needed a wagon. It sure made an impression on me, one that has now finally been filled.

A few weeks ago, upon my usual perusal of the classified sections of various websites, I stumbled onto a post about a clean white b3 wagon local to me with which I had some familiarity. From one of our legendary local shadetree fellows to an intermediary, then off to one of my buddies (who happens to own a bodyshop), it's taken a few hits mechanically, but the body and interior are in excellent original shape. A quick detail and a de-stink on the inside should be all that it needs. Once again, I find myself craving some OEM +/- action, so the mods and work will be minimal to the car, but the idea is to have an incredibly solid runner with the ability to haul a whole host of things a great distance without any worries. There may even be a touch of the "fauxsport", a term that, since it's inception, has motivated me a bit into directions I would usually not consider. Perhaps this could end up looking like a support vehicle for my body guys hillclimbin' jetta. We'll have to see on that front! Otherwise, a general refreshment and refinement of all the bushings and bearings of the drivetrain and running gear will be addressed, as well as a whole host of mechanical maladies that have befallen the motor in the last year or so. These mechanical issues will be spelled out in detail in later installments, but for now, here's a few terrible cell phone pictures to give you an idea of where we are headed.